Wednesday, 25 November 2015

I’m not
usually a fantasy enthusiast so I tend to be rather picky about which books I
read in this genre. I read a few reviews about this author and decided to try
this short story collection about a strong willed girl, Clover, and her fiery
protective dragon, Crimzon. As the author explains at the beginning, there is
no book one in the collection as it can be obtained for free online. Also
explained is why books eight and nine don’t contain the two main characters,
Crimzon and Clover, at all. As much as I loved these characters’ adventures
throughout the collection, it was actually the two books without Crimzon and
Clover that I loved the most and I hope there are more stories involving the
fairy folk and the wizard. I loved the world created by M.R. Mathias. It’s
magical and entertaining. The characters are multifaceted and leads the reader
to care about what happens to them. In one of the stories, something bad
happens to a dragon (not Crimzon) and I actually felt really sad for this
mythical, made-up creature. That is the work of a good writer. It’s also nice
to have all of the stories in one large collection so that they can be read as
one. It held my interest much better this way. The entire collection formatted
to my ereader very well. Due to the fact that I read it on my ereader I really
didn’t take notice of the cover and it had no bearing on my choosing to read
this collection.

Wednesday, 18 November 2015

I
really don’t want to like this book and here is why. I have to admit that I am
one of those dog owners whose pooch owns more clothes than I do, has his own
Christmas stocking from Santa, and has an overflowing toy box. According to
this book, my tiny seven pounder is really a wolf in Yorkie clothing and should
be treated accordingly. Mentored as a teen by a Special Forces instructor in
Alaska, the author scatters the wisdom of this unnamed gentleman throughout the
book and it was these parts that I found to be the most useful and interesting.
I can’t say I liked all of what the author had to say but after reading his
reasoning and checking out a few of his sources which he listed in the back, I
have to grudgingly agree with his conclusions. This is not a book about how to
train your dog but it does provide insight as to why your dog does some of the
things that may drive you crazy, such as jumping up. After reading why he does
this I thought how obvious it was when the behaviour was explained. I read the
digital version of this short book and it formatted well, as did the beautiful pictures
throughout the book. The cover is a good representation of the book. This is a
must read for dog owners even though you may not like what you find out.

Thursday, 12 November 2015

Loving
the Headsman’s Daughter is a fairly short erotic tale about the daughter of a
highly respected executioner (he took off Anne Boleyn’s head) and the man who
falls in love with her, Denis. Denis and Jacquette commit a crime in self-defence
and must try to stay ahead of the law. To do this, Denis runs away to live with
Jacquette and her family of legalized killers. Here he finds out about her
secret taboo passion and has to decide whether he can live with it or not. The
description for the book makes it sound much more explicit than it is. There is
some sexual content but it is written tastefully and, although the love story
is a large part of the whole tale, the truly interesting part involves the rest
of the story. I found the information about the executioner’s life and how he
tortured criminals during this time period to be fascinating. I thoroughly
enjoyed the era the book is set in and the author really nailed the feeling of
life in the 1500s (or what I think life would be like!). I read the digital
version of this book and it formatted well to my ereader. The cover, in my
opinion, looks like one for a romance story and this book is so much more than
that and would be enjoyed by people not interested in that sort of thing. I
really enjoyed reading this!